TWO FIRMS COMPETING TO DEVELOP HIGH-SPEED LINE FAIL TO QUALIFY

The field competing for the right to develop Florida's proposed high-speed rail line dropped to two on Monday, as two firms missed a 5 p.m. deadline for filing application fees.

"We haven't been able to work it out," said Herb Priluck, a spokesman for Stone & Webster Engineers, one of the two companies that was dropped from the running for missing the deadline.

David Ramsey, a New Port Richey businessman who had hoped to win approval for a 300 mph magnetically propelled train he planned to run along Florida's west coast, also missed the deadline and was disqualified.

"I'm stuck right now," said Ramsey, who could not obtain the $35,000 his company needed to give the state to remain in consideration for the $3 billion railroad project.

That means that just two firms -- the Florida High Speed Rail Corp. of Deerfield Beach and TGV of Florida Inc., a French firm -- remain to compete for the rail project and a package of development rights it includes.

"We're pleased that we have two applicants competing for the franchise," said Diana Hull, spokesman for the Florida High Speed Rail Transportation Commission, the state board overseeing the project. "These are realistic requests for running a major transportation project."

Nine firms expressed interest in the rail project as it was developed over the past four years.

Last month, when the commission accepted formal applications, four companies submitted proposals for the project.

Hull said that various state and local government bodies will now review the two remaining applications and begin the process for awarding the rail project by 1991.

Officials say the project, which would link Miami, Orlando and the Tampa Bay area, will be running by 1995.

Both TGV and the High Speed Rail Corp. submitted plans that would run electrified trains through Broward and Palm Beach counties along the CSX Transportation Corp. railroad tracks beside Interstate 95.

The TGV plan would cost $2.15 billion and would feature trains capable of traveling 185 mph.

The High Speed Rail Corp., which is headed by AmeriFirst Development Corp., has proposed a $2.2-billion system with trains that could travel 150 mph.

TGV has said it will seek state funds to help pay for upgrading rail tracks to accommodate the passenger trains, while AmeriFirst says it will generate enough money developing land near the rail line to pay for the system.